


Hurt and Healing

by Dogsledwolf



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Gen, Hurt Zuko (Avatar), Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Ozai (Avatar) Being a Terrible Parent, Past Child Abuse, Zuko (Avatar)-centric, Zuko's Scar (Avatar)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-10
Updated: 2020-06-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:22:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24646366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dogsledwolf/pseuds/Dogsledwolf
Summary: "So what's the deal with your face?""Ex–excuse me?" Zuko spluttered at her bluntness. He should've expected it, honestly. Toph didn't exactly beat around the bush."Your face. Your scar, I assume," Toph explained. "You keep almost touching it. I've felt you do it easily a dozen times since you joined us. This time was the most obvious, though. So what's up with it?"Zuko almost laughed. His breath hitched a little, but the sound that came out wasn't a laugh. He felt like he was choking.___An obligatory Toph finds out about Zuko's scar fic.
Relationships: Toph Beifong & Zuko, Zuko & The Fire Nation (Avatar)
Comments: 18
Kudos: 1368
Collections: Quality Fics, avatar tingz





	1. Chapter 1

Toph knew that Zuko had a scar. Zuko was sure of it. Even though they hadn't interacted while he was actively chasing the Avatar, it would be impossible for her not to know.

She seemed to have a good grasp on what everyone looked like, and she'd spent enough time with the group that they had to have told her at some point.

So it wasn't her finding out about it that scared Zuko, it was her finding out it was more than just a simple scar. That it wasn't a light, clean cut scar, the kind you'd get from a sword or a knife. It was a burn scar, and an angry one at that. Red, leathery skin that pulled tight on the left side of his face, deforming his eye socket. With the haste he had been thrown out of the palace, it never healed right.

It was bad enough that it was his defining characteristic. Especially now that his hair was grown out and "Angry Ponytail Guy" didn't exactly fit anymore. Besides Aang and his tattoos, Zuko was easily the most recognizable of the group. At least Aang was proud of his tattoos. Zuko's scar was nothing to be proud of.

His opinion of his scar didn't stop it from being the feature that everyone used to identify him. Everyone, except Toph. Because she hadn't seen it. Because she couldn't see it.

But if she found out the truth then she would wonder what had happened.

The others hadn't asked. Zuko figured it was because they could see it and come to their own conclusions.

But Toph couldn't. And what was going to stop her from asking about it?

Maybe it was selfish of him, but Zuko didn't want her to know about it. He wanted there to be at least _one_ person who didn't identify him by the shameful mark on his face.

It was only a matter of time until she asked, he figured.

And when she did, Zuko was terrified he'd tell her.

* * *

Toph asked on a completely unassuming day.

They had been at Ember Island for a few days already, and Zuko's mind was not taking kindly to all of the memories. His family had been happy here, so of course his nights were spent recounting every terrible thing his father had ever done to him.

Last night had been no different.

Zuko woke up gasping and clutching at his left eye. It took him a few seconds to get a grasp of his surroundings, his old bed, the covers half flung onto the floor, the darkened room that was achingly familiar. Once he gathered that he wasn't in any danger, Zuko let his head thump back onto his pillow. He put a hand on his chest, feeling his heartbeat slow back to its normal pace with every controlled breath.

A quick glance out the window revealed to him that it was early, but not that much earlier than Zuko was used to getting up. The sun was just a sliver on the horizon, but he could feel its strength seeping into him already. He didn't want to wake anyone by wandering around the house this early, so he sat by the window to meditate as the sun rose.

When he finally did emerge from his room, it was still way too early for Aang to be up. Zuko would love to start his training as early in the day as possible, but he'd learned the hard way that waking Aang up didn't work. So instead of trying to wake the Avatar, he passed right by his room and went to get breakfast ready.

Zuko was just finishing up, filling up a bowl of rice for himself when Toph stumbled in, mid yawn.

"Good morning," Zuko said politely. They were friends now, as tentative as it might seem, but he still felt the need to act polite. He had to make up to them how terrible he had been, and he didn't want to give them any reason to cast him out.

Toph had no such qualms about being nice.

"Sparky," she held her hand out expectantly, "gimme."

He placed his untouched bowl of rice in her hand, and grabbed another one for himself before sitting down next to her.

Toph went to dig in and Zuko winced. "Careful it's—"

She hissed as her fingers met the hot rice and stuck her index finger into her mouth to sooth the burn.

"—hot," Zuko finished uselessly.

She took her finger out of her mouth and Zuko could see that there was barely even a mark, but his nightmare was still fresh in his mind, and his hand moved up to the left side of his face before he could stop himself.

He jerked his hand down violently before it could meet skin. It didn't matter, though, the damage was already done. If anything, Zuko had made it worse by how unsubtle he was. Toph turned to look at him and, while he didn't blame her for her curiosity, it didn't lessen the pounding feeling in his chest.

"So what's the deal with your face?"

"Ex–excuse me?" Zuko spluttered at her bluntness. He should've expected it, honestly. Toph didn't exactly beat around the bush.

"Your face. Your scar, I assume," Toph explained. "You keep almost touching it. I've felt you do it easily a dozen times since you joined us. This time was the most obvious, though. So what's up with it?"

Zuko almost laughed. His breath hitched a little, but the sound that came out wasn't a laugh. He felt like he was choking.

He didn't want her to know. She was the only one who he could _keep_ from knowing. It would be so easy to deflect the question, to push her away, to leave. But he couldn't. He'd be just as bad as her parents. Manipulating her, using her blindness for his own profit.

Zuko couldn't do that to her.

"It's not a fun story," he started.

"I wasn't expecting it to be, Sunshine."

He took a deep breath. He could do this.

"When I was thirteen, my uncle let me sit in on a war meeting. I wasn't supposed to be there, but he got me in as long as I stayed silent."

Zuko remembered how excited he was. He had felt like an adult, sitting there and listening. It hadn't mattered that Azula was a better fire bender. It hadn't mattered that his father thought he was worthless.

But it had.

"One of the generals wanted to sacrifice a whole division for a distraction. All those lives, for a _distraction_. So I spoke out against the plan. I had to do something."

If Zuko had a chance to do it over, he wouldn't choose any differently. It didn't matter that they went through with the plan anyways. He couldn't sit through that again. Not like he had the last time he was in the war room.

"It was disrespectful. _I_ was disrespectful, and as a result I had to fight an Agni Kai. A fire duel. The general didn't scare me. I thought it would be him."

_It should've been him._

"But it wasn't the general's war room and it wasn't the general I had to fight at the Agni Kai. It was my father."

Zuko sucked in a shaky breath. He felt light headed. His vision was blurry but he didn't know if it was from tears or from the dizziness. He could feel himself slipping away from the moment, tumbling back through time—

There was a light pressure on his right shoulder. Toph.

She had leaned into his side. Zuko grounded himself with the weight of her head, the heat radiating off of her, the way she shifted with each breath.

He wasn't there anymore.

He could do this.

"I didn't want to fight him. I wanted him to love me. I wanted him to treat me like I was Azula. Like I was _worth_ something," Zuko spat, anger rising within him. Anger at his father. At himself.

"I begged for his forgiveness, and he took my chin in one hand and burnt his other hand into my face."

_And it hurt. It hurt so much and it didn't stop and his father never relented. Even when he was screaming and sobbing and the smell of burnt flesh made him gag, his father stood above him and kept burning._

Zuko curled in on himself, hand cradled around his eye, protecting it in the way he hadn't been able to. The pressure on his side moved away, replaced with a light touch to his arm. He full-bodied flinched away from it. Vaguely, he could tell he was shaking like a leaf, but it all felt a million miles away.

There was a sizzling in his ears, the roar of a crowd, and this time he couldn't stop the spiral backwards. He was thirteen again. Kneeling in front of his father, his eye alight with pain, begging for him to stop, hoping he'd pass out from the pain so he didn't have to feel it anymore—

"Zuko!" Toph? "Zuko, calm down, it's okay. You're safe."

He let out a whimper.

"Can I touch you?" Toph asked him distantly and Zuko nodded jerkily.

She tried a hand on his shoulder again. This time he leaned into it. Her hand was cool, steady, and small. The complete opposite of his father's. Even as his body shivered uncontrollably, her hand didn't move. 

"We can be done talking about this if you want," Toph told him once his breathing had evened out.

Zuko shook his head. He felt weak. Pathetic. He had stood up to his father during the eclipse, _accused_ him, but he couldn't tell Toph what had happened without freaking out?

He knew why, but it didn't help much. During the eclipse he was running on adrenaline and fury. If he had slowed down, he would've died. Here Zuko was safe enough that he could panic without being in danger.

He straightened up and wiped the tears from his face. The laugh he let out was sharp and humorless.

"I think he would've killed me during the duel if we hadn't had an audience," Zuko said. It was a fact he had pondered over for a while, but after his father had shot lightning at him, he was certain.

"Spirits above Zuko," Toph sniffled slightly. Zuko's eyes flickered over at the noise. They widened in surprise. There were tears running down her face. Crying was something he would've expected from Aang, or really anyone, but not Toph. Toph wasn't a crier. And yet here she was.

It was a shock to see her like this, so much so that Zuko decided involuntarily to wrap an arm around her. Toph buried her head into his shoulder, and it made him realize, not for the first time, that she was only twelve.

"Can I–can I see it?" she asked into his shirt.

The scar. He'd been expecting this since she first asked. By now, there was hardly any reason to not show her. She already knew more than most people.

"It's not pretty." Zuko warned.

She pulled away from him to fix him with an unseeing stare, the impact lessened by her red eyes. "Yes or no, Sparky."

He sighed. "Yes."

With his assent, Toph brought her hands up to the right side of his face. Zuko didn't know if she knew which side it was on and was being considerate or if she just started with the side closest to her. Either way, he was able to get used to the feeling of her mapping out his face before she even reached his scar.

Fingertips brushed slowly across Zuko's face, tracing his cheekbone across to the bridge of his nose. He couldn't help the flinch at the first touch to the ridge of his scar. Toph's hands disappeared immediately.

"I can stop here," she said. "I got to see what you look like."

Zuko grabbed her wrists lightly in response, lifting them back up to his scar. Again, when she made contact with the wrinkled scar he jumped but didn't pull away.

His eyes flickered shut as she traced the mark, from his ear to his missing eyebrow and then down to his eye socket, small and misshapen.

"Can you see out of it?" Toph asked, fingers hovering over his eyelid.

"Mostly. I had to relearn a lot afterwards since it messed with my depth perception, but it works."

She hummed in response before continuing to trace the mottled skin. As she did, she spoke.

"I suppose I might owe you an apology, because I knew how nervous you were when I asked, but I didn't back down."

Zuko shook his head. "It was only fair to tell you anyways. Everyone who looks at me can see it and come to their own conclusions, but you can't. It isn't right to keep you in the dark like that. I didn't want you to know, at first. But then how would I be any different than your parents? Using your blindness against you."

He clenched his hands into fists and squeezed his eyes shut tighter.

Toph lifted her hands away from his face to punch him in the arm.

"You imbecile!" she reprimanded. "You're nothing like my parents. It isn't a crime to have a secret, and just because I know what your scar looks like now doesn't change anything! You're still you, Sparky. Your scar doesn't lessen your worth. If anything, it shows how strong you are."

"What? No," Zuko said. "It's not strength, it's a weakness. I was too afraid to fight him and I was disrespectful and now I have to live with that mistake on my face for the rest of my life."

"Oh no," Toph said sarcastically. "You were disrespectful to the worst person on the planet, how terrible."

Zuko ducked his head, hiding his face behind his hair, but Toph continued on.

"And besides, what do you think would have happened if you had fought back? Do you think the crowd would've stopped him if your death could have been passed off as _honorable_?"

She took his face in her hands, and rubbed her thumb over the scar.

" _This_ is not shameful. It shows you survived. And I hope one day you can see it as a sign of your strength. You faced the Fire Lord, your father, and you survived. If that doesn't show how strong you are, I don't know what will."

Zuko let her words wash over him. How long had it been since he'd been reassured like this? Before he had betrayed his uncle, back in Ba Sing Se? Whenever it was, it had been way too long.

"Do you–do you really think that it's something to be proud of?"

"Duh, Sparky," Toph said, but her voice was soft.

Zuko nodded and stood up, he'd spent enough time dwelling on the past today. Aang would be up soon, and he really needed to clean himself up. He didn't want the Avatar to worry about him.

Toph seemed to notice the shift in the air, as she grabbed her now-cold bowl of rice and dug in.

He turned to leave, but paused. "Don't tell the others yet, please," Zuko asked. "I need to do it myself, but not now. Maybe–maybe I can wait until I see my scar like you do."

It seemed impossible, for his mark of shame to turn into acceptance, into pride. But he didn't want to look at his face with disgust anymore. And he knew Toph would help.

"I can't see your scar. I'm blind," she deadpanned, waving her hand in front of her eyes.

"Toph."

"What?"

Yeah, she would help.


	2. Chapter 2

Being crowned the Fire Lord was something Zuko never thought would be an option, especially after his banishment. Especially after working with the Avatar. Especially at only sixteen.

Yet here he was.

The coronation had gone well, his friends were safe, and his sister and father were locked up where they couldn't hurt anyone anymore. Where they couldn't hurt him anymore.

For the first time in years, the hallways of the palace felt safe, even as he stood in front of the tapestries of his predecessors.

Zuko could finally look at Ozai's depiction, strong and proud, and see through it to the weak and angry man that he really was.

He'd made good progress the last month, undoing what his father had done and affirming his own position as Fire Lord, but there was always more to do. His Nation had been suffering for so long, Zuko didn't want anything to take any longer than it had to.

His uncle wasn't taking his refusal to rest very well, and had made him promise to visit the Jasmine Dragon soon. Zuko had agreed, but there were a few things he needed to finish first.

One of them was slightly more painful than the rest.

His tapestry.

And who could blame him for not wanting a larger-than-life scale of himself? His scar was large enough on his own face, Zuko didn't need it magnified and displayed for the world to see.

"Sparky!"

Toph would have a different opinion than he did. Zuko sighed, but he couldn't keep the fondness out of it.

The sight of her jogging towards him pulled a smile onto his face. Over the last month, he'd seen Toph the most out of all of his friends. Katara and Sokka were with Hakoda and the rest of the water tribe. Aang was busy solving disputes and keeping peace around the world. But Toph wasn't that busy.

She was working on smoothing things over with her parents, to various degrees of success. Even after saving the world, they still treated her like she was helpless. Zuko tended to find her camping out in the empty guest room beside his room every few days.

He knew that Toph had shown up late last night, so he wasn't surprised to see her. She hadn't woken him, but Zuko had opened his door at dawn to find a rock lying in the middle of the hallway outside his room.

It had looked like she had attempted to carve Zuko's face into the rock with bending, but it ended up more like Sokka's sand rendition of Suki than her own sand city back on Ember Island.

It had probably been on purpose.

Zuko had still slipped the rock into his pocket.

He threw it at her as she caught up to him, but she grabbed it with one hand, making a rude gesture with the other.

"You can't even see," Zuko muttered indignantly.

"Yeah, but I felt you throw it, dunderhead. Now come  _ here _ ," Toph replied, tugging him by the arm to pull him into a hug.

Zuko rested his chin on the top of her head.

"What brings you here again?" Zuko asked. "It hasn't even been three days yet."

"Just my parents again," Toph flapped her hand in dismissal as they pulled apart. "It's not important."

Zuko narrowed his eyes, scanning her briefly for anything amiss without even thinking about it. He didn't find anything. Not like he was expecting to really, his father and Toph's parents were sort of on opposite sides of the "terrible parents" spectrum. He still had to check, regardless.

"That doesn't sound unimportant. If you need—"

"Zuko. I'm fine," Toph interrupted, she twisted sideways to face the wall he had been staring at when she arrived. "So what're we standing in the middle of the hallway for?"

It wasn't exactly the most subtle change of conversation, but she was here and seemed happy, so he let her go for now.

"My advisors think it's high time I had my tapestry made," Zuko explained. He gestured uselessly to the empty space on the wall where his tapestry would go.

"And you don't want your scar to be"—she dropped her voice in a clear imitation of Zuko—"immortalized forever on these walls," Toph finished. It was more dramatic than he probably would've worded it, but correct nonetheless.

He ignored the jab and nodded, trusting her to pick up on the subtle movement.

"I just don't know if I'm ready to have my face plastered throughout the nation," Zuko said.

"Except it already is, Sunshine," Toph reminded him. "They sent out pictures of your face for your coronation, before that it was your wanted poster. It's not like people don't know what you look like, you're the Fire Lord for Yangchen's sake!"

She punctuated her statement with an elbow to the side.

"I know, I know," Zuko groaned, glaring at her lightly and rubbing a hand over the spot she had hit. "It just feels more  _ real _ this way."

"You're really dumb sometimes," Toph said. She sighed. "Come on, idiot, I've got something to show you."

* * *

Twenty minutes later and Zuko was now dressed in his firebending clothes. The loose fabric blended in with the style outside of the palace, a far cry from the pointy royal outfit he usually had to wear. And with his hair down in front of his face, Zuko looked almost identical to when he had first joined the group.

Except for the glaringly obvious scar on his face, no one would expect him to be the Fire Lord. So it worked well for a disguise. A disguise for what Zuko didn't know yet. Toph refused to tell him, shutting down all of his questions with a hiss to be patient.

Zuko was currently being dragged down street after street by Toph, whose hand was firmly grasping his wrist to keep him from lagging behind.

They ended up in a small clearing just a few feet from the residential area. The whole park was comprised of just a few trees, which framed the grassy area, and a picnic table off to the side. Aside from a few children, it was deserted.

The place was nice, especially after walking through the bustle of the city, but Zuko had no idea why they were there.

He said as much to Toph.

"Look," she said, and pointed at the children.

He raised an eyebrow at her, not that she could see it, but he complied.

There were three of them, and they were young, probably around the age of the Earth Kingdom boy he had tried to help. A boy and two girls, playing tag in the grass. 

Zuko really didn't understand what this was about. They were just kids, and he had better ways to spend his day, like getting things ready for his visit to Iroh. He was trying to not get frustrated at Toph, he trusted her after all, but what was even—

"Oh."

One of the girls had turned around, revealing a dark burn scar that covered her right ear. The skin was red and angry and if it were bigger and extended out to her eye it would've been identical to his.

Zuko's mind whirled with the realization, flickering from fright to anger to confusion. The first question that he managed to latch onto was simply:  _ how? _

But even in the Fire Nation, scars like that were rare. This wasn't accidental.

Which led him to his next coherent thought.

_ Who could do that to a kid? _

He knew the answer to that one.

Zuko didn't notice his knees buckling until Toph had a firm grip on the fabric of his clothes, keeping him upright. She let him lean on her, for which Zuko was incredibly grateful. He was worried that if he tried to stand up on his own now, he'd just fall over.

"I take it you saw her?" Toph asked, pulling one of his arms around her shoulder for support.

"I—how—" he stammered. He shifted so that he was grabbing onto her shoulders, bunching up the fabric in desperation. "Toph, explain?"

"Why don't you have her do that?" She took his hands from her shoulders and squeezed them reassuringly. "She won't recognize you, it's fine."

And then, with a smile, Toph mercilessly pushed him to the wolves.

Zuko had just enough time to turn and glare uselessly at her before the kids noticed him.

"Hi mister!" The little boy called. 

Zuko felt his back straighten and his expression smooth out as he was noticed, an instinct he'd gained from being the Fire Lord. He'd started adopting the facade when he was talking to anyone he wasn't comfortable with. Basically everyone except a few of the palace staff, his uncle, and his friends.

"I'm Ren. Do you want to play with us?" The boy asked as the three approached him. He gestured to the two girls. "These are my sisters, Aki and Kuri."

Aki—the girl with the scar—hid behind her sister. Kuri waved at him.

"Hi," Zuko said hesitantly, and waved back. "I'm Zuko."

"Like the Fire Lord?"

There goes not being recognized. He winced internally but pushed on, kneeling in front of the kids and leaned in conspiratorially.

"Yes, but I'm not supposed to be out here right now," he put a finger to his lips. "Can you guys keep a secret?"

All three of them grinned widely, nodding their assent. 

He bowed his head. "Thank you for your discretion."

"What're you doing?" Kuri asked him.

"Honestly, I'm not really sure," he responded. "I'm—"

"Is that your friend over there?" Ren cut in, pointing at Toph, who was currently erecting a statue of herself in the middle of the park.

(Zuko would have to talk to her about that later.)

He frowned at the interruption, and at the way Kuri elbowed Ren in the side, but moved on smoothly.

"Yes, she's—"

"How come you're the Fire Lord but you don't even look fancy?" Kuri said, swiftly dodging her brother's attempt to kick her shin.

"Do you really know the Avatar?" Ren shot back before Kuri even had a chance to close her mouth.

The questions kept coming. Once Zuko was sure they weren't going to stop anytime soon, he made the executive decision to tune them out. Politely. He just hoped it wouldn't get too out of hand. The closest experience he'd had to dealing with children was with the Earth Kingdom boy and that had not turned out great. That and teaching Aang, but the Avatar would not take kindly to being referred to as a kid. And he wasn't really, just like Toph. The two twelve year olds acted way more mature than he had ever been at twelve. Honestly, if it weren't for their childlike features, Zuko would probably forget they were years younger than him.

The kids in front of him, though, were definitely children. Kuri and Ren had started to play wrestle, rolling around in the grass. He kept an eye out for any fire, since most of his playing with Azula had left him with tiny handprints burned into his skin. Except the way the kids were playing wasn't malicious. They didn't bruise or scratch, just tumbled together. Laughing.

One roll backwards and they bumped into their sister, who had been standing behind them. She stumbled and sat down heavily with a small noise of surprise. The other two swarmed her immediately, sitting on either side of her and breaking up their scuffle to make sure she was okay.

Aki brushed off their concern and, emboldened by her siblings' support, locked eyes with Zuko.

"Did your scar hurt like mine?" she asked, drawing her legs up to her chest, and tilting her head to rest her unscarred side on her knees. The movement left her scar in plain view and Zuko couldn't help the jolt of panic that coursed through him when he saw it more clearly. Her hair had been shaved around the scar. It must've burned away.

His hair had burned too.

From up close, Zuko could confirm his earlier assumption. It had come from a fire bender. The burn was too contained, shaped too much like a hand.

Zuko shivered, unrelated to the light breeze. His own scar was warm on his face, an invisible fire directed at it.

_ His father's hand neared his eye as he stood over him with a barely hidden grin at the act he was about to perform— _

Focus.

Zuko blinked.

Aki's siblings had gone quiet when she had asked her question. They looked at him now, tiny hands pressed comfortingly into her own, expectantly. He sat down.

"It used to hurt a lot," Zuko said, trying to ignore the flames rising in his mind. He needed to be comforting, not to scare her away with his years old fear. It still ached sometimes, when he thought about it, thought about his father. But it didn't really hurt anymore. Not of its own volition. "But it's all better now. It hasn't hurt in a long, long time."

He tried to look reassuring when he lifted his eyes to look at Aki. She nodded at his response, but didn't look entirely satisfied. Zuko didn't blame her, his answer wouldn't have left thirteen year old him satisfied either.

Zuko wanted to punch something. Why was he so bad at this? Why couldn't he say what she wanted to hear?

He almost considered trying to tell her a proverb like his uncle would've, but his disaster at Boiling Rock with Sokka prevented him from doing so.

But he needed  _ something _ to say.

He paused. What about what he would've liked to hear? He wouldn't have wanted platitudes, false reassurances. He would've wanted the truth.

That sometimes it wasn't okay. That some days he struggled to look at himself in the mirror without flinching. Not just because of the scar, but that without it he would look just like his father. And that scared him more than he would like to admit.

"It's not always great," Zuko started. "Our scars aren't exactly inconspicuous, and people wonder. They ask, or they come up with their own conclusions. Either way, they stare."

It was easier for him to handle the stares before he was the Fire Lord. He kept his hair down, like it was now, which concealed his scar to everyone but especially perceptive strangers. Fire Lord Zuko didn't have that luxury. His hair stayed up in the royal topknot, baring his face to the world. Plus, with the stranger's added knowledge that he was the Fire Lord, it wasn't just pity or disgust that they stared at him with. It was a reminder that he had been banished.

"What they do isn't polite and it isn't right," Zuko continued. "They shouldn't treat you any differently because of your scar. But they do. What you have to do, is find the people in your life that don't."

Zuko's eyes flickered over to Toph. Even after she had "seen" his scar, nothing had changed. Aang, Sokka, even Katara, after she had warmed up to him, saw him as himself. Not the banished prince. Not the scarred Fire Lord. But himself.

"And you have to, as hard as it is, not let what the others think get to you. You are the only one who gets to decide what other people think of you," he explained. "As a friend told me once: your scar isn't a mark of shame. It's a mark of survival."

As Zuko finished talking, Aki stood up. She carefully stepped over her siblings, standing in front of him for the first time since she had met him. Her mouth quirked up into a smile as she threw her arms around him in a quick hug. She released him almost immediately and bowed in the style of the Fire Nation.

"Thank you, Fire Lord Zuko," Aki said.

Ren jumped up quickly, practically vibrating with excitement. "Yeah! And the next time someone's mean to Aki we can tell them that she's just like the Fire Lord!"

Zuko couldn't keep the smile off of his face as Kuri and Ren started jabbering back and forth. He stood up and turned his attention back to Aki.

"Thank  _ you _ , Aki. You helped me realize something very important," Zuko said, bowing to the girl, who flushed slightly at the attention. 

He caught sight of the sun's position in the sky and frowned. Toph's expedition had taken longer than he had expected. "You'll have to excuse me, but I need to get going. It was nice to meet you all."

The day had been anything but time wasted, but now Zuko had a tapestry to sit for, and a few questions of his own.

The kids chorused out goodbyes, before running off giggling. He watched them for a second, as they restarted their game of tag, before walking over to Toph.

Or the two Tophs. One of which had been constructed out of stone, in a lifelike enough manner that Zuko could tell the "Zuko face rock" from earlier had been bad on purpose.

"Toph, you can't just put up statues of yourself wherever you want," Zuko told her, pinching the bridge of his nose. But he couldn't really feel annoyed. Talking to Aki had left him feeling lighter than he had in awhile.

"Says who," Toph shot back. Her actions didn't match her words though, since she violently pulled Zuko into a hug. She wrapped her arms around his back and buried her head in his shoulder.

"Says the Fire Lord," Zuko replied, returning the hug. He rested his chin on the top of her head like he had that morning.

"Did you get your answers?"

"Most of them." Zuko pulled back so he could see Toph's face. "How did you know about Aki?"

Toph grinned. "I have my ways."

He stared at her unblinkingly.

"Fine! I overheard them mention her scar the last time I was here, when I was out exploring," Toph said, throwing her hands up in the air in defeat. "I'd been back a few more times and they were always here during the day. It worked out pretty well if I say so myself."

"Well, thank you," Zuko said. "Aki helped me realize that I need to show my scar, for her and for those hurt by the war. They need to see that I'm not infallible, that I'm human just like them."

He took a deep breath.

"I think I'm ready for that tapestry."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading!
> 
> This fic got away from me a little, I'd only planned on writing the first chapter and then I was like, "What if I wrote a quick follow-up?" and it ended up longer than the first chapter. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, though.


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